UC-NRLF

SD

177
BH-

^Canadian Pulp & Paper
Association

ION-

Bulletin Number Thirty-four

Issued October 15th, 1921

FORESTRY CONDITIONS IN SWEDEN,
FINLAND, NORWAY, GREAT

BRITAIN AND FRANCE b^ £,

THE articles herein reprinted were written by Edward Beck,
who, as a representative of the Canadian Pulp and Paper
Association, spent the summer of 1921 in Sweden, Norway,
Finland, Great Britain and France, investigating forest condi-
tions. His particular quest had relation more to the administra-
tion of the forests — the part played by the State and by the
private owners in the maintenance and renewal of the forest
resources — than to the more abstruse subject of practical
sylvaculture.

As will be noted, in all the countries visited the State is
found to take the larger share of the responsibility for the
future of the forests, both in the regulation of cutting and in
providing the means for sowing and replanting cut-over lands
as well as for regenerating in reclaimed lands and other waste
places. This applies to an almost equal extent whether the
forests are owned outright by the State or are in the hands
of communities or in those of corporations or individuals.
The State, in return for the revenues derived therefrom, and
in acknowledgment of the economic factors involved, under-
takes the responsibility of ensuring perpetuation of the forests.
Particularly is this the case in Sweden, where the Forest
Service puts back into the forests at least 50 per cent, of the
revenue derived therefrom. In Norway and Finland, the
governments expend on these projects large sums of money.
In France reforestation is being carried on at considerable public
expense in order to overcome the ravages of war. In Great
Britain, for the first time in centuries, the State has set
seriously to work to cultivate new forests and parliament has
voted three and a half millions sterling to assist in carrying
on the work. It is significant that the Forest Commission

having the responsibility for the expenditure of this appro-
priation and composed of such men as Lord Lovat, Mr. F. D.
Acland, M.P., and Mr. R. L. Robinson, has set aside a con-
siderable proportion of this fund for the purpose of assisting
the owners of private but unproductive lands to plant them
with trees and is reimbursing such owners to the extent of
two pounds per acre for land thus brought under sylvaculture.

One other significant fact in connection with forestry
conditions in the countries visited, particularly in respect to
Sweden, is found in the attention given by the State to the
establishment and maintenance of institutions of instruction
in forestry. These include both colleges for the training of
the higher forest experts and schools for the development of
forest rangers and other workers. As a result of the work of
these institutions the foresters of Sweden, Norway and Fin-
land may fairly claim to equal if not excel in efficiency and
in scientific equipment those of any other country. The result
of this is shown in their work, and proves that the investment is a
profitable one for the countries undertaking it. There is less
doubt and uncertainty as to a given course in forestry opera-
tions in these countries than in any other, with the possible
exception of Germany, where forest culture, prior to the
war, was admitted to have reached a very high plane.

The articles herewith reproduced were given a wide
circulation through the Canadian press. They were printed
by the Montreal GAZETTE, the Toronto GLOBE, Montreal
LA PRESSE, the Winnipeg TRIBUNE, the Moncton TRANS-
CRIPT, the London FREE PRESS, the Hamilton SPECTATOR,
the Quebec TELEGRAPH, the Saskatoon PHOENIX, the Border
Cities STAR, the Ottawa JOURNAL, the Charlottetown GUAR-
DIAN, the Vancouver WORLD, the Calgary HERALD, the Ed-
monton JOURNAL, the Victoria TIMES, the Saskatoon STAR,
the Halifax LEADER, and other daily newspapers, as well as by
the Canadian Pulp and Paper Magazine, the Journal of
Commerce, Canadian Forestry Journal and a number of other
periodicals. They have provoked some editorial discussion
and, it is believed, have assisted in some degree in building up
a public opinion in Canada in favour of a better and more
enlightened treatment of Canadian forests, particularly upon
the part of the various governments upon whom rests the
responsibility for maintaining Canada's natural resources.

The acknowledgments of the Association are due to the
above-mentioned publications for their co-operation in the
effort, as well as to Mr. Carl O. deDardel, consul-general of
Sweden for North America, to Mr. L. Aubert, consul-general
of Norway for Canada, to the Swedish Cellulose Association
of Stockholm, the Finska Cellulosaforeningen of Helsingfors,
the De Norske Papirfabrikanters Forening of Kristiania, to
Lord Lovat, head of the British Forestry Commission, and
his associates, to F Administration des Eaux et Forets, Paris,
and to numerous pulp and paper companies and others in the
countries visited for courtesies received and assistance ren-
dered. Particular acknowledgments are due to Baron Manner-
heim, president of Kramfors Aktiebolag, Stockholm, Sweden,
and his immediate associates, for their exceptional kindness
and co-operation.

ARTICLE No. 1

PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF FOREST CONDITIONS

IN SWEDEN

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, MAY 21. — The first impression
obtained by a Canadian investigating forestry in Sweden is
that the industry here has passed beyond the experimental
stage. It is more or less an exact science. It is difficult to
conceive of a body of Swedish foresters, for instance, sitting
down to discuss seriously some of the, to them, elemental
questions concerning methods of conservation and cutting
such as still engage forestry minds in other lands. They have
passed that stage here. Forestry is a scientific business. They
have been at it for many years. Upon it largely rests the
nation's material welfare.

The State and the private interests, furthermore, are not
in conflict. There seems to be but little divergence of opinion
as to general policies and certainly no hindrance to proper
development by reluctance to provide the required funds,
whether these are drawn from the public exchequer or from
private sources.

A Swedish forestry expert, Herr C. A. Agardh, is on record
as writing, in 1857, that "It may be said that the position of
Sweden as an independent nation and as a civilized country
is contingent upon the existence or non-existence of forests."
And in 1921, Prof. Gunnar Anderson, with whom I have

talked in Stockholm, says, in an introduction to a work on
the Natural Resources of" Sweden, after considering Sweden's
possessions in minerals, water powers and agricultural and
other natural resources, that "the future of Sweden lies in
her forests" and that "nature has presented Sweden with no
source of wealth to be compared with what lies slumbering
in the depths of the forests."

The purpose of this and succeeding articles will be to
disclose the manner and the means obtaining in Sweden to
utilize to the best advantage this great natural asset and to
ensure its permanency as well as to contrast these means and
methods with those employed in Canada, where the forest
wealth is not less important if perhaps not at present so
greatly appreciated.

Investigating forestry in Stockholm, Sweden's beautiful
capital, is naturally confined to visits to Governmental
bureaux, talks with departmental officials, an inspection of
the very notable school of forestry and its adjacent research
laboratory, than which there is probably none better equipped
or better conducted. Actual visits to the forests are to follow.

The forest areas of Sweden cover some fifty-five million
acres, of which about two-thirds are in private ownership
and the rest government owned. The community of interest
between the government and the private owners is readily
apparent. It manifests itself in close co-operation by both
interests for the protection and betterment of existing forests
and of provision for their perpetuation. On the surface, at
any rate, there is complete harmony. It is true that the State
is trying to increase its holdings by the purchase of private
forests wherever possible, but there is no general demand
for confiscation, by purchase or otherwise.

All cutting, whether on private or public lands, is subject
to the same strict regulations. Private owners willingly sub-
mit to whatever rules are imposed for the general good. The
nature and extent of these rules and regulations will be dealt
with later.

It is of interest to note that the public forests are not sold
or leased to private interests as in Canada. When the Swedish
government has pulpwood or other standing timber to dispose
of its foresters go into the forests and mark each identical
tree to be cut down with an individual number. These trees

may be scattered over a wide area and separated by consider-
able distances or they may be grouped together, as circum-
stances dictate. The right to cut the trees thus selected for
cutting is then disposed of at public auction to the highest
bidder. There is seldom any lack of competition, as most of
the pulp and lumber companies are only too anxious to con-
serve their own resources by buying when they can buy to
advantage.

An outstanding feature of the Swedish timber regulations I
is that immediate profit from the felled timber is never made
the chief consideration. Everything is subordinated to the \
purpose of ensuring a permanent yield of wood. Selection \
of trees for cutting is made on the basis of improving the re- \
maining forest. The "diameter limit" regulation, as observed
by some of the Canadian provinces, under which all trees
cut are required not to fall below a certain prescribed minimum
trunk measurement, appears to have no place in Swedish
forestry. Weak and immature trees are the first to be taken out
in order to give the sturdier ones a better chance for develop-
ment. If there is any hard and fast rule employed it would
appear to be that no tree capable of increased development
is allowed to be cut until it has reached its maximum growth
unless for the purpose, as already stated, of giving a more
promising tree a better chance. There is no such thing as
indiscriminate cutting. All waste is eliminated. Trees are
cut to within three or four inches of the ground. High stumps
are unknown. Slash and other debris is seldom left on the floor
of the forest to incite forest fires or serve as a breeding place
for wood-destroying insect pests. Swedish lumbermen try
to utilize every waste product from their lumbering operations.
Top logs, even down to one or two inches in top diameter, are
bundled and strapped with steel wire and floated to the nearest
charcoal plant to be converted into charcoal. What waste
cannot be utilized is destroyed.

Swedish forests, as a rule, are comprised of about 80 per
cent, conifers and 20 per cent, broad-leaf species. Trees
mature under the most favourable conditions in from 75 to
80 years. In some instances, however, they require two or
three times as long. Reforestation, which is carried on on
an ever-increasing scale, will be dealt with later.

An important feature in helping to bring about these
desirable results is to be found in the fact that all logging in
Swedish forests is supervised by the forester. In Canada, in
most instances, the forestry and the logging departments are
separate and independent institutions. They are frequently
antagonistic. The former is usually concerned with scientific
forestry and with making the most of the raw material; the
latter's principal object is to make as many logs at as low cost
as possible. In Sweden the forester is in full charge. He will
not permit the sacrifice of the future forest even for a tempor-
ary benefit of cheap logs. It is a point well worth the con-
sideration of Canadian lumbermen and limit-holders.

ARTICLE No. II.

CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE STATE AND THE
PRIVATE FOREST OWNERS IN SWEDEN

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, JUNE 5. — Co-operation between the
State and the owners of the private forests accounts in a large
measure for Sweden's pre-eminence in forest development.
The State's liberality in providing the means, its wisdom in
enacting reasonable laws for the preservation of the forests
and to provide for their continuity, combined with the private
owners' willing compliance therewith, constitute the second
most important factor.

There is apparently no conflict between the State and the
private owners in these matters. Swedish forests have been
under legal control for more than seven centuries. There are
few general laws applicable to the entire country. Different
laws apply to different provinces or districts. Their enforce-
ment and supervision are invested in local forest commissions,
one for each province, which in turn is answerable to the
State Forest Service, which has general supervision both of
the forest laws and of the State-owned forests. The com-
missions usually comprise in their membership a representa-
tive of the State, one of the private owners and one of the
immediate district concerned. Besides enforcing the law and
arbitrating disputes, they maintain forest nurseries and dis-
tribute plants and seeds for purposes of reforestation. They
encourage the planting of idle lands and promote local interest
in tree culture. Their expenses are met by means of a small
tax imposed on the stumpage values of the timber cut in their

respective districts. They are also subsidized by the national
and the provincial governments and derive additional revenue
from the sale of seeds and plants. They serve to obviate some
of the objections which the owners of the private forests
might otherwise offer to interference with their undeniable
private property rights in their forest holdings.

In 1918 it was found necessary to pass a stringent general
law forbidding the cutting of young growing forests unless
and until it was shown that such cutting was essential to their
improvement. Exception was made in the case of land des-
tined for agricultural purposes, pastures, building sites, etc.
In enforcing this law the commissions are empowered to fine
disobedient owners, to confiscate wood illegally cut and to
prohibit absolutely for stipulated periods any further cutting
on the areas involved. In such cases the owners have the
right of appeal to the courts. This law is the result of exces-
sive cutting during the recent war period when the demand
for lumber and its price were both abnormal.

Laws fixing a minimum diameter limit for cutting, such
as prevail in Canada, have been applied from time to time in
several of the provinces. They have usually proven unsatis-
factory and are not regarded as having contributed to the
general improvement of the forests.

Speaking generally, it may be said that the State's efforts
are directed principally to securing a greater volume of re-
production. The private owners, while not neglecting this
important feature, are said to give more of their attention to
improved logging operations and to forest upkeep. No new
laws are enacted for the control of the forests until there has
been full and free deliberation between the governmental
authorities and the private owners. New laws and regula-
tions are usually the result of mutual agreement.

The Swedish public forests are managed by the Swedish
Forest Service, operated as part of the national Department
of Agriculture. The Service is governed by a director general
and six assistant directors, with district foresters, assistant
foresters, forest engineers, etc., for each of the several dis-
tricts into which the public forests are divided. The Service
is organized on semi-military lines. It has a distinctive uni-
form and a very pronounced esprit-de-corps. Its personnel
includes young men of high social standing to whom the

remuneration paid, which is less than unskilled labourers re-
ceive in Canada, is probably a secondary consideration.

The Forest Service has complete control over the State
forests and either supervises or manages the other publicly
owned forests, such as those owned by various counties, vil-
lages, parishes and communities. Many of these, by the way,
derive considerable income from the proceeds of their forest
possessions. It has charge of the execution of the laws govern-
ing the management of all forests and of cutting and all other
regulations. Its officers pay visits of inspection to private
as well as public forests to see that the laws are being observed.

An official estimate made in 1908 placed the value of the
State forests at that time at $62,000,000; of other public
forests at $21,000,000 and of private forests at $334,000,000,
or a total of $417,000,000. These values are said to have
advanced from 25% to 35% in the meanwhile.

Taxes on private forests have risen considerably during
and since the war and now amount, in some instances, to as
much as 40% to 45% on the income derived from them.
There is, however, no important tax imposed on standing
timber, as it has been thought that such a tax besides being
an inducement to unnecessary cutting might deter private
capital from being employed in reforestation.

The State Forest Service derives its revenues from the
sale of standing timber and in other ways. It shows an annual
surplus. It expends about 50 per cent, of its income on forest
improvements and upkeep. This is in marked contrast to
what the Canadian provinces are doing for their Crown
lands. Quebec, for example, which is more liberal in its
forest appropriations than most, has forty-five millions of
acres under license against Sweden's less than half that extent.
Quebec derives an annual income of about $4,500,000 from
its Crown lands and appropriates for their upkeep, adminis-
tration and improvement about $400,000.

Education plays an important part in Swedish forestry.
The government spares no expense in educating and training
picked men for forest work in both its higher and its less
important branches. A college of forestry has been in exis-
tence here since 1828. It is now located on beautiful grounds
on the outskirts of Stockholm, in buildings especially erected
and well adapted to its purpose. It gives instruction in both

theoretic and practical forestry, its course covering three
years. The entrance requirements include nine months of
practical training in the field as well as a certificate of gradua-
tion from a high school or college. It is said to be without an
equal in Europe. Its courses are in such demand that would-
be entrants have to go through a preliminary elimination
trial, which only two-thirds of those entering survive.
Its graduates are in great demand for both governmental and
private service.

In connection with the college the government maintains
a forest laboratory which devotes all of its efforts to research
on questions bearing on forestry. It has two sections, one
devoted to forest management and to investigations in regard
to the growth of stands, and the other mainly to geological
and botanical subjects. It is exceptionally well-equipped and
ably staffed. A visit disclosed a number of important and
interesting experiments in progress. The laboratory maintains
experimental areas in all parts of the country and is doing a
work that no private agency is competent to undertake.

The State also maintains a number of schools of a lesser
grade, situated throughout the country, chiefly for the training
of forest rangers. There are eleven of such schools in all.
At each school there is an experimental forest area for the
practical instruction of the students, who are also required to
spend part of their school year in the forests doing actual
forest work. The course usually comprises a full year of
study and the object sought is practical insight into forest
management and the supervision of forest operations. Char-
coal burning, which is an important part of the industry, is
also taught.

A visit of inspection was made to one of the best of these
rangers' schools located near Bispgarden in middle Sweden,
where it has been established since 1898. The school has a
director and assistant director who live on the premises. It
employs two rangers and other necessary staff. It graduates
eighteen students every year. A primary education is sufficient
for admission. The average age of the students is twenty-two
years. There are many more applicants than can be accom-
modated. The students are lodged and boarded at the school
free of charge, their only expenses being for books, etc. Each
student is allowed 25 kroner a month (about $6.25). The

studies are mostly of a practical character, and include forest
accounting, ditching, loggers' camp construction and other
co-related subjects. The school maintains a nursery as well
as an experimental plot. It also operates an extensive plant
for the extraction of seeds from tree cones. It buys the cones
in large quantities from the private forests and other sources
and markets the seeds all over the world and derives a large
revenue therefrom.

The work that this school and its fellows are doing in
training men for practical work in the forests cannot be over-
estimated. In the opinion of the visitors it supplies one of the
most important elements in Sweden's progressive forest policy.

Reforestation as practiced in Sweden and forest fire pro-
tection will be treated in future articles.

ARTICLE No. III.

HOW SWEDISH FORESTS ARE PROTECTED FROM
DEVASTATION BY FIRE

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, JUNE 15. — Devastating forest fires,
common in Canada, are practically unknown in Sweden.
There are no vast stretches of burnt-over lands such as offend
the eyes of the traveller along the north shores of Lake Su-
perior and that represent the complete waste of untold millions
of potential wealth. It was not always so. There are evi-
dences that most of Sweden's forest areas have been burned
over at some time in their history, and most of what has not
been burned has been logged. Few virgin forests remain.
Those that do are highly prized and well cared for. A visit
to one of the best of these, under the guidance of Mr. Hol-
gren, chief of the Government Forest Service, and head of
the Colonization Board, near Fagelsjo in the Norrlands dis-
trict, disclosed a fine stand of spruce and pine about three
hundred years old, which was said to be one of the oldest
and best in the country.

Swedish forests are, however, not entirely immune to fire,
but fire hazards and losses have been reduced to a minimum.
A Swedish forest authority estimates that the wood lost by
fire does not exceed one-half of one per cent, of the standing
timber in any one year. In money value this has been cal-
culated at $250,000 a year for the whole of Sweden, and in

acreage at an average of from ten to twelve thousand acres
in the public forests and at probably from thirty to forty
thousand acres in those owned privately.

Most of the forest fires which occur in Sweden are attri-
buted to sparks from locomotives, although, considering the
way in which the railways abut on the forests, fires from this
cause are surprisingly few in number. "Dry lightning'*,
common in Western Canada and frequently a cause of forest
fires, is unknown here. Climatic conditions also contribute
to keeping down the number of fires. Promiscuous invasion
of the woods by hunting, fishing and camping parties is dis-
couraged and danger from the carelessly dropped match and
the abandoned camp fire is thus eliminated. The laws for
the protection of the forests against fires are very stringent
and strictly enforced. There are no " Warning" signs tacked
to the trees. They are said to be unnecessary. The people
have long since been educated to a realization of the economic
value of the forests to the life of Sweden. Every man, woman
and child is a natural forest protector.

Many of the forests, especially those in Central and
Southern Sweden, are traversed by good roads. In the State
forests the roads are built and maintained by the State. In
the private forests the owners are compelled to build and
maintain these public roads which means to them a consider-
able expense. Small villages, usually consisting of a few fami-
lies who divide their interest between cultivating small farms
and working in the forests, are located at frequent intervals.
The State and some of the private companies are promoting
colonization and inducing settlers to take up plots of
land in the forests by providing them with houses, land, a
small amount of capital and equipment on very generous terms,
and allowing them to apply their labour in the forests to
their indebtedness.

These agencies all combine to reduce the fire hazards.
Incipient fires are quickly discovered. Help is nearly always
readily at hand. The law requires that every citizen between
16 and 60 must respond 'to a call to fight a forest fire. The
Swedish military is also subject to similar service when it is
required of them. A district forest overseer has authority,
when necessary, to call for a detachment of 600 soldiers from

the nearest military station to fight forest fires as well as to
guarantee payment, in the government's name, to all civilians
who respond to his call.

Swedish forest experts who have visited Canada marvel
at the tremendous losses sustained by Canadian forests through
the agency of preventable fires. They incline to the opinion
that adequate fire protective measures are more necessary
in Canada than restrictions on cutting. They are willing to
admit that many differences exist between the physical con-
ditions in the two countries, but they insist that Canada's
forest fire losses could be greatly reduced by systematic effort
and good laws properly enforced such as have been applied
with such good effect in Sweden.

ARTICLE No. IV.

ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL REFORESTATION AS

PRACTICED IN SWEDEN, AND RESULTS

ACHIEVED

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, JUNE 10. — uYes, Sweden will have
some worth-while forests in fifty or one hundred years," ad-
mitted Baron Mannerheim, head of the Kramfors Company
in Stockholm, one of the largest lumber and pulp concerns
in Sweden and among the largest owners of private forests, in
reply to a complimentary remark on the condition of Sweden's
forests. The Baron knows Canada. He made an extended
visit there a year or so ago. He saw much to admire in the
industrial development of the Dominion. He thinks, however,
that we are not very far advanced in the administration of
our forests. "You ought to make indiscriminate cutting im-
possible," he said. "You ought to pass laws against it. In
the long run, the companies over there would find it to their
financial advantage as well as to the country's general good."

The Baron is himself an ardent believer in artificial re-
forestation and has done much for its promotion in Sweden.
His company's forestry department under his inspiration is
probably the most progressive of any in the country, and is
much farther advanced than any other. The personnel of
his foresters is exceptionally high.

I don't know how old the Baron is. If called upon to
guess I should say somewhere in the sixties. In all probability

he will not be living fifty years hence to see the fruits of his
efforts to improve Sweden's forests; certainly not to see them
as they will appear after the lapse of another century. Never-
theless, his modest admission is not only typical of his own
disinterested regard for the forests, but is characteristic alike
of the Swedish national attitude towards the subject of forestry
in general. Everybody is looking forward to and working for
the future. There is not the slightest danger of Sweden ever
becoming a forest bankrupt; or that the Swedish forests will
ever recklessly be exhausted for the sake of providing immedi-
ate profits, however great the temptation.

That is not to say, however, that Sweden does not now
possess fine forests in abundance, or that these forests are not
now being utilized to the limit of prudence and to the full
extent of the demands made upon them by Sweden's con-
stantly increasing export trade in lumber, pulp, paper and
other forest products, as well as to supply the domestic require-
ments of these commodities.

After a thorough and painstaking inspection of several gov-
ernment forests and four extensive private forests, including
those owned by the Mo Domsjo Company, the largest private
forests in Sweden, the Holmens Bruks Company, the Kram-
fors Company, the Fiskeby Paper Company, as well as of
forests owned by communities and by farmers, one is most
impressed with the fact that in Sweden the forests are farmed.
They are cultivated with all the care and assiduity that is
given to the cultivation of the wheat lands in the Canadian
Northwest or to the cotton plantations in the Southern States.
The result obtained is a permanent, constant and ascertain-
able current yield and an assurance that, barring accidents,
this yield will continue indefinitely and in increased volume
for all time to come.

Not all Swedish foresters agree as to the superiority of any
given method of reforestation but none allows his forests
to go uncultivated. Planting and seeding follow cutting
almost invariably. Experiments are in progress to ascertain
how to obtain a maximum yield in the shortest period of time.
Drainage is resorted to to improve the soil. In the Mo Domsjo
forests more than 6,000 miles of ditches have been constructed
to this end, at large cost but with highly gratifying results.
Most of the companies maintain private nurseries in which

to develop plants. Some of them are putting out two million
and upwards of seedlings every year. Hardly any land is
permitted to go uncultivated for more than three years after
being cut over, the interval being allowed merely to permit
the soil to recuperate itself and to get in readiness for a new
growth. Seeding is carried on by means of horse-drawn
mechanical seeders of plow-like appearance. Pine and spruce
are usually sown in conjunction, an equal quantity of each
species of seed being dropped into the ground together. Boys
and girls and young women, as well as men, are employed in
the planting and seeding operations, the object being to reduce
the labour cost to the minimum.

Re-planting is admittedly a costly operation, especially
when the interest on the capital investment is taken into
account. But here they do not consider the question of com-
pound interest on the capital which is the bugbear of reforest-
ation in ' Canada. Each year's operations are looked upon
from a bookkeeping point of view as a unit. Cost is calculated
on that basis. Swedish forest experts are not all convinced,
however, of the efficacy or the economic value of artificial
replanting, although evidences of its practical results are by
no means wanting. Southern Sweden possesses some fine
examples of cultivated forests which are from fifty to sixty
years old. They are now ready for their first thinning and will
yield a very satisfactory harvest. In some of them the trees
are planted at regular intervals of six feet in either direction.
They are mostly pine and spruce. They are fine upstanding
trees and present a uniform appearance of almost military
precision. There are a few cultivated forests older than those
described but systematic efforts at replanting seem to have
had their beginning much less than fifty years ago.

In Northern Sweden apparently no efforts were made to
propagate forests in any large way up to fifteen years ago.
Since that time planting and seeding have become very general.
Everywhere one finds plantations of from five to fifteen years
of age giving signs of healthy and vigourous growth and
promising extensive crops of mature trees in due time. In
many of these plantations foresters tell us their plantings
yield 95 per cent, of healthy trees.

As in Canada, so in Sweden, there are two schools of
foresters. One believes in leaving to Nature most of the work

of replanting the forests and of rendering only such assistance
as may seem actually to be necessary. The other believes that
the best results are to be obtained in every case by artificial
cultivation. With the former, financial considerations fre-
quently prevail. What's the use of spending money to do
something which Nature will do alone and do much better
if it is left to her to do, they say. They also assert that arti-
ficial propagation impairs the stamina of the trees and in-
volves risks of early losses which are avoided when Nature
does the work.

Mr. Carl Eric Barth, chief forester for the Fiskby Paper
Company, is one of those who believe in giving Nature every
chance to replant the forests. In his woods near Finspong he
shows some interesting results obtained from strip-cutting, as
it is called. This involves the clean cutting of a strip in the
midst of the forest about 1,000 feet wide and two or three times
as deep. Seeds from the surrounding trees are scattered by the
wind over the clean-cut area and in time take root and
develop into trees. Plots so cut in the Finspong woods show
a proficient growth after three years. On some plots cut over
about seven years ago there is a fine growth of young trees
which give promise of developing into excellent stands of
pine and spruce. Mr. Barth is very enthusiastic for this
method of cutting and has prepared an elaborate report,
showing its results for presentation to the Swedish Forestry
Association which, in conjunction with a number of Norwegian
foresters, is to visit his woods this summer.

Forest-master Isaac Ljungquist of the Holmens Bruks
Company is also strong for the natural method of reforestation
and has many spots in his woods to prove what can be done
in this way. He is opposed to spending money on nurseries
and on planting and seeding unless it can be shown that such
expenditures are vitally necessary. He admits that there are
circumstances which can only be met by artificial means and
he does not neglect to seed or plant his land when natural
means are not available.

But the success of Sweden's forests, it is very evident,
depends less upon the methods employed for securing a new
growth of trees than it does upon the scientific means em-
ployed in harvesting the current crop. In America, and to
some extent in Canada, forests are cut down on the principle

of securing the greatest yield of wood for the smallest outlay
of money. In Sweden, both in theory and practice, the main
object sought in cutting seems to be to obtain the maximum
yield of wood compatible with the least injury to the standing
forests. There is all the difference between scientific and un-
scientific forestry in the two principles. The first consideration
given to logging in Sweden is how to cut in such a manner as
to insure an increased growth to the remaining forest. With
the exception of the "strip-cutting" method, above referred
to, and which is by no means universally employed, there is
little or no clean-cutting. Trees are taken out by selection,
either because they have reached their maximum growth and
consequent yield or to ensure a better opportunity to those
left standing by increased space, ventilation and sunshine.
Birch is usually employed to afford protection to the growing
pine and spruce. Attention is given to crop rotation. The
soil is studied as to its fitness for the species to be grown on it.
Drainage is resorted to wherever necessary. Where clean-
cutting is indulged in it is made in selected spots and these
spots are replanted or seeded with the least possible delay.

In every direction the forests show the effect of the good
care they receive. Barren spots are very scarce. There is very
little underbrush to obstruct the view or make travel difficult
through the forests. Most of the forests present an appearance
approaching that of cultivated park areas. Large groups of
trees, especially pines and spruces, grow uniformly in height
and girth. There are few crooked, stunted or dwarfed growths,
defective trees being the first to yield to the woodman's axe.
After a thinning the minor branches are left on the ground to
afford protection to the seedlings and contribute to the fer-
tility of the soil, but debris-strewn forests are unknown.

To sum up, it may be said that while intensive forestry in
Sweden may not have reached the degree of development
attained in Germany or in France it is beyond criticism in
its employment of those methods of cutting best designed to
obtain the greatest possible yield of timber and at the same
time to facilitate as much as possible the best natural re-
production, and that in accommodating the adaptability of
the species employed to the varying conditions of the country,
in efficient fire protection, in counteracting the influences of

forest insects and diseases and in its economical utilization of
the forest yield in industrial operations, Sweden ranks second
to no other country.

ARTICLE No. V.

FINNISH PROGRESSIVE FORESTRY, THOUGH OF
RECENT DEVELOPMENT, SHOWS SOME
GOOD RESULTS

HELSINGFORS, FINLAND, JUNE 23. — Finland, perhaps more
than Sweden, is dependent upon her forest resources. As in
Sweden, the people appreciate the importance of maintaining
and increasing these resources, although this realization, as
interpreted into practical usage and protective legislation,
dates back less than a quarter of a century. Before that time,
Finnish forests were largely allowed to take care of themselves.

During the last twenty-five years, progressive forestry
laws, based upon those of Sweden, have been enacted and are
now rigidly enforced. State and private owners of forests
co-operate together in building up and maintaining the forests
and in employing means for their perpetuation.

The practice of reforestation on a broad scale is carried
on almost universally, except in the more northerly parts of
the country, where there is still much wild land. Finnish
forest methods, however, are generally based upon the theory
that it is better to let nature do the work where possible and
to use artificial means only where necessary, and most of the
cutting is done with that end in view. Some fine examples of
natural forests from 60 to 80 years old are to be seen.

Here, as in Sweden, the private owners put their forestry
and logging operations under a single supervision and manage-
ment. The chief forester directs how and what trees shall be
cut, always with the object of impairing the growing forest
as little as possible. Cutting operations are, when necessary,
followed up with replanting. Most of the companies buy timber
in addition to cutting their own. They maintain separate
organizations to deal with bought timber but the same re-
quirement as to replanting is made to apply.

The extent of the forest organizations built up and main-
tained by the companies may be illustrated by that of the
Kymmene Aktiebolag, one of Finland's largest pulp and paper

companies, which owns over 600,000 acres of forest lands
scattered over a wide area. This company employs a chief
forester, nine district chiefs, one hundred foremen and the
necessary labourers, all of whom devote their entire time to
forest operations. The chief forester and the district chiefs
are well paid and are each provided with a home which is also
the forest headquarters for the district. All the chiefs are
trained foresters and have been through the technical schools
established for that purpose. This company has also accom-
plished what few state or private owners have succeeded in
doing, having made a complete survey of their forests and
learning to a certainty the amount of available timber, the
annual growth and all other details. By means of this survey
they have been enabled to map out their forest program for
years in advance.

Finland's total area comprises approximately 144,250
square miles, of which about 17,000 square miles, or
11.75%, consist of inland waters. More than one-half of the land
area is made up of forests. There are about 73,000 square miles
which produce merchantable timber, of which about 58,000
square miles are classed as highly productive. About one-
third of Finland's land area lies north of the Arctic circle and
includes most of the less productive forests.

The State owns about 38 per cent, of all the land, in-
cluding 20,000 square miles of productive forests. (There
are private companies in Canada which control almost as
great a forest area.) Private companies own a greater pro-
portion of the best forests, their holdings approximating 38,000
square miles. The State sells the standing timber on its
holdings by methods similar to Sweden's and makes adequate
provision for its replacement. Private owners are restricted
as to the uses of their forests and are not allowed to cut in
any manner that is considered injurious to future development.
When they cut the land clean, as they sometimes do, they
are obliged to replant it.

Selective cutting is generally practiced, the trees being
taken out with due regard to the effect produced on those
left standing. Drainage is resorted to for the purpose of in-
creasing production, and thinning is carried out in a scientific

manner at necessary intervals. Fire hazards have been re-
duced to a minimum and the fire losses, compared with those
in Canada, are practically negligible.

Pine and spruce form the basis of most of the forests, with
an admixture of birch and other hardwood species. No
authentic survey of the timber resources of Finland is avail-
able, although there are several estimates which are held to
be reliable. One, made by Col. Gosta Serlachius, president
of the Finska Cellulosaforcumigen, places the timber resources
of the country at approximately 31,000,000,000 cubic feet
(335,000,000 cords). Calculations made on the assumption
of an annual growth of 1.5%, which has been shown to be below
the actual, indicates a yearly timber yield for the entire coun-
try of 15,650,000 cords.

Finland's present timber requirements for all purposes,
domestic and industrial, are drawn chiefly from a territory
which includes rather less than three-fourths of the total
forest area of the country. This territory, however, represents
a considerably larger part of the actual timber resources. It
is estimated that from 20% to 25% of the total standing
timber of the country may be classed as merchantable material
of sawlog dimensions.

In normal years Finland exports about 300,000,000 cubic
feet of timber and sawn lumber. (There are approximately
375 sawmills in Finlancl, many of which, however, are of very
limited capacity.) The wood pulp industry produces 220,000
tons of mechanical and 350,000 tons of chemical pulp a year,
using up about 900,000 cords of wood in the process. The
consumption of timber for domestic requirements, including
industrial and railway fuel (all locomotives here burn wood)
has been estimated at 5,000,000 cords a year, much of which
is hardwood, principally birch.

These figures indicate on the surface that Finland is
using every year an amount of wood equal to or exceeding
the estimated annual growth, although in reality, especially
when active reforestation is taken into account, the annual
increment is considerably greater. It has been estimated that
the forest resources of Finland are sufficient to insure a supply
of pulpwood for requirements based upon the present rate of
consumption for 145 years, without taking into account the
new forests that are growing up in the meantime.

During recent years the Finnish government has increased
its forest holdings by purchases from private owners, a policy
adopted with a view to restoring the productivity of lands
exhausted by reckless cutting in the past and of raising the
general standard of economic forestry in the country. The
most desirable areas of accessible timber lands in Finland are
now well taken up and there is apparently little prospect for
industrial companies to increase their holdings by purchasing
additional lands from the State. During the unsettled con-
ditions of the past few years there have been many transfers
of land among private and corporate owners, with the result
that several of the stronger industrial companies have greatly
improved their position in this respect. To-day, however, the
State is doing its utmost to prevent agricultural lands from
being bought up by the companies for reversion to forests.

Forest practice and lumbering methods in general while
showing marked improvement in the last fifteen years are
still said to fall somewhat short of the high stage of develop-
ment reached in Sweden. State supervision and control, as
already noted, have been responsible for great improvement
in forestry practice and the increasing value of timber has
gradually forced a higher standard of efficiency in lumbering
methods and the utilization of timber for industrial purposes.
In some remote districts there is said to be still much waste
of timber by reason of careless lumbering and from fires and
other sources, but these are in a fair way of being eliminated.

Timber and water powers constitute Finland's chief
national asset, and the lumber, pulp and paper industries are
and must continue to be the foundation of the entire economic
life of the country. The present population of Finland does
not exceed 3,500,000. Although 55 per cent, of the people
are classed as dependent on agriculture, the country as a
whole is not self-sustaining as to food. Many peasant farmers
engage in lumbering during the winter season and the sale of
timber from small peasant holdings constitutes an important
part of the annual cut of timber. The growth and present
importance of the timber industry is of prime importance to
the national welfare. The fact that the Government and the
people as a whole fully realize this is shown by the manner
in which the forests are now being maintained as well as by
the steps that are being taken to ensure their future.

ARTICLE No. VI.

WHAT NORWAY IS DOING TO KEEP HER FORESTS
IN A STATE OF CONSTANT PRODUCTIVITY

CHRISTIANIA, NORWAY, JULY 2, 1921. — Norway has been
in the business of forest cultivation for more than sixty years.
In 1907 the golden anniversary of the beginning of Norway's
present efficient forestry system was officially celebrated. A
volume containing a history of the development and progress
of the forests was published. The lapse of sixty years, however,
has, according to the leading Norwegian forest authorities,
merely enabled them to make a fair start. Norwegian forests,
they say, are still in their infancy; cultivation ought to have
begun a century before it did. They are hoping to make up
for lost time.

Norwegian forestry owes much of its later development to
the work of the -Norwegian Forestry Association founded by
Mr. Axel Heiberg in 1898. Mr. Heiberg gave me a succinct
statement of its activities.

The Association, he said, was founded for the purpose of
restoring the forests along the whole Norwegian coast from
Lindesnace (the Nace of Norway) to the North Cape. Its
work, in the first instance, was educational and the enlist-
ment of public and private financial support, which met with
a generous response. ^

Restoration of the depleted forests had to be achieved by
planting, and in carrying on the work the Association profited
by the example of Denmark where afforestation had been
successfully carried on by Dalgas. They were also helped out
by the Norwegian Government experimental plantations
established in 1860. Their efforts soon bore fruit, and in time
surpassed in results those obtained in Denmark, owing, pro-
bably, to a soil better adapted to tree-growth.

The secondary efforts of the Association have been de-
voted to improving and preserving the forests already in ex-
istence, which has been accomplished by the practice of ra-
tional cutting and of drainage. The Association was confronted
with the problem of preventing the sand-drifts on the Jaederen
and this work promises complete success. Another task was
to stop the progressive decline of the timber line on the Nor-
wegian mountains, which has been done through the importa-

tion of firs and pines, principally from the Pacific Coast States
and British Columbia, and which are found to be more hardy
than the native trees.

In the beginning the Association had only one forester,
or provincial forest guard, in Hedemarken. Now it has over
fifty scattered all over the country.

The parent association is divided into sub-divisions repre-
senting every province, and embracing 15,000 individual
members, and is constantly expanding. It distributes large
sums for use in planting, sowing, ditching, experimentation,
instruction, etc. It obtains its funds by private subscription
and government subsidies. Its annual budget amounts to
500,000 kroner, one-half of which is provided by the govern-
ment. Up to 1920 it had brought under cultivation some 100,-
000 acres; had planted 150,000,000 trees, sown 5,000 kilo-
grams of seed, and constructed 6,000,000 meters of ditching.

"It might seem from these figures," Mr. Heiberg says,
"that we have reached a state of perfection in respect to our
forests. In reality we are merely at the beginning. We have,
however, established the fact that it is possible to make new
forests, to restore old and decrepit ones, and to develop a
forest capable of giving a sustained yield as long as it receives
reasonable treatment. We have demonstrated that the
enormous stretches of heaths in Norway, which do not now
produce anything, can be covered with trees, and we are
prepared to expand all this work on a large and more profit-
able scale as fast as the means are provided. We are working
for a plantation on such a scale as will help the credit of the
country and promote extensive colonization. Last year I
made an inspection tour of our West Coast districts where
much of our work has been carried on. The hill-sides, once bare,
are now covered with young trees, firs and pines, all in a
healthy state of growth and development. There is great
future wealth in store for us if we expand this work as we
should."

There are in Norway, as in Sweden and Finland, both
State and private forests. The latter largely predominate.
Altogether, the forest lands comprise about 28,000 square
miles, or about 23 per cent, of the country's total area which
consists of about 124,450 square miles. Compared with Canada's
forest area that of Norway appears almost insignificant, yet

Norway regards her forest possessions as of the utmost im-
portance and spares neither money nor effort to keep them in
a state of constant production. Her national vitality depends
upon them.

Norway's natural resources are strictly limited in extent.
The supply of timber ranks among the first and most impor-
tant. It furnishes the main source of Norway's export trade
and provides fuel, building material and other wood necessi-
ties for home consumption. One-sixth of Norway's labourers
find their employment in the wood-refining industries; one-
tenth in the paper industry. Norwegian railways derive more
than 12 per cent, of their total traffic revenues from the pulp-
wood, cellulose and paper industries; some of the railways
depend almost exclusively upon the revenues so derived.
Appreciation of these facts has not only led Norway to the
adoption of a policy of strict conservation of her remaining
forests, but also to employ all available means for the building
up of a forest supply for the future. To-day the country is
not forest self-sustaining and is obliged to import considerable
quantities of wood from Finland. Formerly wood was also
freely imported from Russia.

The productive timber lands of Norway consist of about
21,825 square miles, of which 11,500 are held by peasants and
other small owners, 5,575 by incorporated companies, and
4,750 by the State, the latter including communal lands, parish
and other endowments. The tendency at present is to dis-
courage the further acquisition of forest lands by private
owners. Incorporated companies are, in fact, debarred by
law from increasing their holdings by purchasing lands from
peasants and other individual holders. Wherever possible
and practicable the State is resuming ownership of these lands
and using them to build up new forests.

Private ownership in the past, before the State established
control of the forests, was charged with wasteful methods and
irresponsible care, resulting in depleted and sterile forest
lands. These practices are what led to the present national
forest policy. The private owners of to-day, however, need
no restrictive laws to compel them to do their duty by their
forests. They have long since learned their lesson. The forest
lands owned by the incorporated companies in Norway are

the best kept of any, as well as the most prolific in their annual
yield. The companies spend much more, proportionately,
than does the State on their upkeep.

However, Norwegian forest laws do not leave it entirely
to the owner to say what shall be done. The owner cannot
do as he pleases with his woods. All cutting is done under
government prescribed regulations. So-called clean-cutting,
which is permitted in Sweden and Finland with certain
restrictions, is seldom practiced in Norway. Selective cutting
is the only approved method. All cutting is done with
regard to its effect upon the standing forest, rather than
for the immediate yield. Norwegian foresters are unusually
successful in maintaining their forests by natural means. In
many parts of the country artificial reforestation is seldom
necessary, cutting being done in such a way that Nature re-
plants the cut-over area in a remarkably short time, main-
taining the forests in a state of constant development. In
other parts the long interval between seed-bearing seasons
makes artificial forest propagation essential and in these
localities seeding and planting are carried on extensively.

The State and the private owners work well together and
the results obtained are of the best. Violations of the regula-
tions are very rare. The State is also generous in its support
of the forest industry generally and does everything possible
to encourage its development.

Coniferous timber areas are estimated to represent about
82 per cent, of Norway's total productive forests, Scotch pine
and white spruce constituting the principal species. The State
Forest Department, which administers the public forests and
supervises the administration of those privately owned, is
now engaged in completing a survey of the country's total
timber resources which, when completed, is expected to lead
to further restrictions. An unofficial estimate, covering
thirteen million acres of productive forest lands, gives an aver-
age of 9.2 cords per acre, or approximately, 3,675,000 cords.
The total annual consumption, exclusive of imports, has been
calculated at about 1,320,000 cords for the wood-using in-
dustries and at about 4,765,000 cords if the wood used for
fuel, for construction and other domestic purposes is taken
into account. According to this calculation Norway is con-
suming annually from 25% to 30% more wood than its forests

are yielding. This is generally admitted by Norwegian
foresters. They say, however, that the discrepancy will
disappear in the development of new forest areas now under
way. For the present, expansion of the saw-mill industry has
stopped. A decline in the other classes of wood products during
the next few years is generally anticipated.

As already indicated, more than half of the productive
forest lands of Norway is represented by small holdings,
principally peasant properties. The small proportion owned
by the industrial companies represents land acquired many
years ago. Most of the pulp and paper companies of Norway
have to depend upon purchased timber for their raw material,
a development which, according to some of the companies,
places them at a distinct disadvantage in comparison with
similar companies in Canada and other pulp and paper
producing countries, and renders their profitable operation
somewhat difficult.

Competition between Norwegian wood-buyers for the
available supply of domestic pulp-wood is becoming increasing-
ly keen. Most of the mills are located in the south-eastern
part of the country on the Glommen, Drammen and Skien
Rivers, which afford access through their water connections
with the best timber areas of southern and central Norway.
Contracts for wood supply are made to run for six months'
periods and call for delivery of the wood at the river bank,
roughly barked and cut to standard lengths. Timber is scaled
and stamped by the purchasers' agents or through competitive
timber-driving associations which handle all the timber floated
on the principal rivers. Costs of handling wood from point of
delivery to mills are pooled and distributed on the basis of
quantity and distance. Both buyers and sellers are organized,
but conditions do not favour the elimination of competition
altogether.

Here, as in Sweden and Finland, much attention is given
to the education of foresters, and the personnel of those in
charge of the forests — the forest-masters and engineers — is
very high. The State maintains a number of schools for the
development of engineers and rangers, the courses including
practical forest experience with theoretical instruction in the
class-rooms. A university course in higher forestry is about
to be established.

Twenty-two years ago Norway had no more than twenty-
five trained foresters who had been through the high schools,
and most of these came either from Germany or Sweden. At
present the Norwegian high school of forestry has over 500
graduates to its credit. In addition, the State maintains nine
subsidiary forestry schools, whose average attendance is
about 500 pupils, farmers as well as intending foresters taking
advantage of the courses to obtain a practical knowledge of
tree culture.

"The attention given to the training of foresters," said a
Norwegian forest authority, "has made possible a wonderful
progress in the expert handling of our forests."

The same care to eliminate as far as possible fire risks
exists here as throughout the Scandinavian forests generally.
Well-built roads permeate all the principal forests and little
settlements at short intervals of distance provide a permanent
and ever-available fire-fighting force whenever required.

The attention given to the housing and care of the forest
forces is worthy of note and explains in some measure the
eagerness with which the young Norwegians adopt forestry
as a profession whenever the opportunity to do so is afforded
them.

ARTICLE No. VII.

EXTENSIVE FOREST PROGRAM ADOPTED BY THE

BRITISH FORESTRY COMMISSION AND HOW

IT IS BEING CARRIED OUT

LONDON, JULY 21 — Among the possible causes contri-
buting to the unprecedented period of drought through which
the British Isles are passing is included that of the destruction
of the forests which resulted from the war.

"May it not be," asks a writer in the DAILY MAIL, "that
we owe the drought from which we are suffering to the fact
that most of our trees worth calling trees have been felled.
It seems to be an established fact that local afforestation in-
creases the rainfall of the district, and the denudation of the
soil, owing to the destruction of forests, in India is a fact
equally well-established. Trees evaporate more water than
even seas and lakes."

Be that as it may, after centuries of alternate care and
neglect — ranging from severe enactments by the Normans
intended to preserve the forests as hunting places for royalty,
down to the eighteenth century forestry boom, caused by the
demand for timber for ship-building, and its subsequent de-
flation when wooden ships became obsolete — Great Britain
was never so deeply concerned nor so active as just now in
forest promotion. The government is endeavouring by every
possible means to restore the United Kingdom as nearly as
possible to a self-supporting forestry basis. That this, will
take many years to accomplish if, indeed, it can be brought
about at all, is apparently no deterrent. Britons are accus-
tomed to a long look ahead. And in any event an active start
has already been made to bring about the desired result.

The Forestry Commission of Great Britain, of which Lord
Lovat is the head, and which was brought into being by an
Act of Parliament passed in 1919, as a direct result of the
enormous inroads made into Britain's standing timber during
the war, has made much headway during its brief existence
and now has an extensive forestry program well organized.

A preliminary grant of 3,500,000 pounds sterling was
voted by Parliament for the purposes of the Commission.
This sum is intended to cover a ten year period. The program
to which it is to be applied includes the afforestation of 150,000
acres of new land by direct action of the State; assistance to
local authorities and private owners for the afforestation or
re-afforestation of 110,000 additional acres; the purchase and
reconstruction of hardwood areas; the education of forest
officers, landowners and land agents, working foresters, and
foremen; research and experiment, and the encouragement
of forest industries.

The Commission has added to this program the work of
obtaining a survey of the entire woodlands resources of Great
Britain in which they have enlisted the assistance of private
organizations and individuals and which is to be completed
within three years. This survey which is estimated to cost
80,000 pounds sterling, is expected to give essential facts and
figures with a sufficient degree of accuracy as to enable Par-
liament to come to a decision as to the country's permanent
forest policy, when, it is anticipated, a still more generous
financial arrangement will be made for carrying on the work.

The Commissioners favour the continuance of the plan
already adopted by Parliament in creating a ' "block" ten-year
period for the purpose of financing the State forests. They
are of the opinion, however, that the difficulties already en-
countered and inherent to beginning work on a ten-year
block grant, due to the slender basis on which to estimate and
the unforeseeable changes in prices and values, as well as the
uncertainty as to the government's policy at the end of the
period, make some change of the arrangement desirable.

" Forestry," they assert with truth, "is obviously not a
subject which can be taken up or dropped at will without
serious loss of efficiency."

They suggest that, while adhering to the ten-year block
grant system, Parliament should also systematically review
progress at the middle of each recurring period and simul-
taneously make provision for a further ten-year program, which
in turn would be reviewed and extended after an interval of
five years.

The suggestion will appeal to all practical foresters wherever
a State forestry policy is under consideration. Much of the
lack of success of forestry policies and many of the difficulties
encountered are traceable to haphazard or short-period legisla-
tion and to the failure at the outset to devise a permanent
policy that will ensure continuity of effort and give to the
practical foresters sufficient scope to make their works effective.

Pending the adoption of some such permanent policy by
Parliament the British Forestry Commission is acquiring
land by lease and purchase as fast as suitable areas are obtain-
able and bringing it under forest cultivation, as well as carry-
ing on other sections of their program. The lands thus ac-
quired are forest areas which were partly or wholly denuded
to supply Britain with wood during the war, or grazing and
other non-agricultural lands more suited for tree-growing
than for other purposes.

Prior to the war the United Kingdom possessed about
3,000,000 acres of woodlands which yielded every year some
45,000,000 cubic feet of timber. It imported wood and wood
products, including woodpulp, to an amount equivalent to
550,000,000 cubic feet of standing timber. These imports, an
enquiry disclosed, increased fivefold between 1850 and 1910.
Consumption rose during the same period from 3^ to 11 cubic

feet per capita of population. The ratio of home to foreign
timber had declined and in 1914 amounted to barely 10 per
cent, of the supply. The value of imported timber had risen
steadily for the thirty years prior to the war while the quality
had as steadily deteriorated.

The average annual imports for the five years preceding
the war 1909-1913, inclusive, amounted to 10,204,000 loads
of wood and timber and 859,000 tons of woodpulp. In 1914,
wood and timber imports declined by about 20 per cent, but
the quality of woodpulp increased to 990,000 tons and did
not decline below the pre-war level until 1916. Apart from this
the reduction of imports which began in 1914 was continued
at a slightly less rate in 1915, and at an increasing rate in
1916 and 1917, to reach bottom in 1918. In 1918 the total
imports of wood and timber amounted to 2,479,000 loads or
roughly 25 per cent, of the pre-war figure. It was in order to
make up as much as possible of the heavy deficit in 1916-1918
that the home woods were exploited to the utmost. On the
other hand the recovery in imports had been even more rapid
than the decline. Wood and timber were imported to the
amount of 6,866,000 loads in 1919 and 7,418,000 loads in
1920. Woodpulp imports exceeded the pre-war level in 1919
and increased in 1920 to 1,094,000 tons, which is the maximum
yet recorded.

As regards prices, the reports show that there was a
progressive rise in values as imports declined. The average
price of all imports of unmanufactured timber during 1909-
1913 was £2.77 per load, in 1916, £6.4 per load and in 1918,
£11.8 per load. The price fell to £10.5 in 1919, to rise to
£11.0.8 in 1920. The rise in the price of woodpulp was from
£4.7 per ton in 1909-1913 to £10.7 per ton in 1916 and
£30.4 in 1918. The total value of the wood imports in 1920,
inclusive of wood manufactures, was £120,326,000 against
£34,314,000 the average of the five years 1909-1913.

'That the state of things was unsatisfactory in time of
peace was generally admitted," the commission declares in
reviewing its first year's operations. "It required but one
year of war to show how critical the position was in a time of
national emergency.

"In 1913 the quantities of timber and grain imported were
about equal and headed the list of imports. They absorbed
between them a quarter of the total snipping which entered
British ports from overseas. In 1916 the people were hungry,
yet, despite the most strenuous efforts to set more ships free
for importing grain, it was found impossible to reduce by even
one per cent, the proportion of shipping required to carry the
timber essential for operations of war abroad and at home.
Napoleon's maxim that an army marches on its belly had to
be brought up to date. The Great War showed that the belly
can only move on wood and iron of which wood is required
in far greater bulk. Not till arrangements had been made for
supplying the requirements of the army from the French forests
and the home demand by ruthless felling of the old and young
woods in the United Kingdom could tonnage be released for
further imports of food."

In 1915 a committee was appointed to expedite home fell-
ings and it soon became evident that owing to the depletion
of home resources a national forest policy based on considera-
tions of public safety was inevitable after the war. It was this
realization that induced the steps which subsequently led to
the present efforts to restore permanent and adequate forests
in Great Britain.

This policy, based on national insurance has, the Commis-
sion points out, as cogent arguments in its favour in time
of peace as in time of war.

"The timber consumed in Great Britain and by the British
Army in France between the years 1915-1920," says the
Commission, "cost the country at least £190,000,000 more
than a similar amount of wood would have cost at 1909-1913
prices. In the year 1920 the Nation imported approximately
one-tenth less wood and pulp than in 1914 and paid over
£80,000,000 more for their purchase.

"There is no reason to suppose," it is added, "that the
average annual demands for timber for house construction,
delayed repairs and industrial developments will be less in
the next decade than they were during the five years immedi-
ately preceding the war. If this is the case, and the price of
timber does not fall much below a figure midway between the
1913 and 1920 prices, we shall have to pay for the whole of
the period of 1915-1920 anything between £400,000,000 and

£600,000,000 more for our timber than we should have had
to pay for a similar amount at 1909-1913 prices.

''It is not argued that if the planting program now adopted
had been completed before the war the price of timber would
not have risen. It can, however, definitely be stated that had
these additional woods been in existence they would have
competed with Scandinavia and Finland and tended to keep
prices of softwoods at a lower level."

Referring to the forest situation in Great Britain prior to
1919, the Corrunission sums up conditions as follows:

"Those accustomed to the highly developed State forests
of the Continent, with their regular succession of age classes
and their ordered routine based on centuries of experience will
have difficulty in realizing the conditions under which State
forestry made its start in this country. Apart from the Crown
woods the State forests in Great Britain in 1919 consisted of
a few hundred acres of plantation recently acquired in Ireland.

"As a result of the absence of State forests, there was no
organized higher executive staff with British experience, no
forest officer personnel, no body of foresters and foremen with
State forest experience or customs, and, above all no forestry
code. Surveys of plantable land were only beginning and
little or no statistical information had been collected regarding
privately owned woodlands. British forestry research was
yet in its infancy. Admirable as had been the pioneer work it
had seldom been directed to those particular points which
were of importance to a forest authority initiating State
Forestry *ab avo'. It is true that experiments on a considerable
scale had been undertaken by private individuals, but although
in the mass they represented a body of information of real
importance, the results had seldom been reduced to a form
available for general application. In embarking on a policy
of State forestry a start had therefore to be made, if not from
the scratch, from a point very near it."

Taking these statements into account, it is interesting^ to
discover through the firstannual reportof the Forest Commission
just issued, that the Commission has made a more than satis-
factory beginning. It is now in possession of 103,100 acres of
land scattered throughout England, Ireland, Scotland and
Wales of which 68,000 acres are classified as plantable. The
area planted including that planted during the current season

of 1920-1921, covers 8,000 acres. Work is progressing by well-
developed steps. The program contemplates an average an-
nual expenditure of £400,000 to £420,000 a year; the acquisi-
tion of 260,000 acres of afforestation land by 1925 and the
planting of 60,000 acres of the same; preparations for planting
an additional 21,000 acres in 1926 and 24,000 acres in 1927.
The Commission estimates that it will be obliged to purchase
seed in 1926 sufficient to supply upwards of 70,000,000 seed-
lings for the planting season of 1929 as well as to acquire some
50,000 additional acres of land by that year.

The area planted in 1919-20 amounted to 1,595 acres
(since increased, as stated, to over 8,000 acres) of which 1,474
acres were placed under coniferous plantation and 121 acres
planted with broad leaved species. The number of plants
used was 3,484,000. Scots and Corsican pine accounted for
35 per cent, of the plants while Norway and Sitka spruce
provided 37 per cent. The Douglas fir, common to Western
Canada, is highly esteemed here for its fast growing quality
and general sturdiness and is being used on an increasingly
large scale. European and Japanese larch, oak, ash, beech
and other tree varieties are also cultivated.

Production statistics induce the Commission to believe
that land capable of producing the faster-growing conifers
under optimum conditions gives the best financial returns
even where the cost of acquiring the site and establishing the
crop is relatively high. First class Douglas fir land capable of
growing up to 160 cubic feet per acre per annum will, the Com-
mission states, given a market for pit-props, pay back the
cost of planting in the course of the first 25 years. On the
other hand, the poorer classes of Scots pine land, especially
at high altitudes, however cheaply acquired and planted, only
begin to pay back the original outlay after 40 to 50 years, and
at the time of final felling make but a low return on the capital
invested.

The returns from afforested ground vary widely, the
Commission finds. In the examination of some 1,100 plots
and sub-plots in different parts of Great Britain and Ireland,
it has been shown that returns run from 160 cubic feet per
acre per annum in the case of first class Douglas fir land down
to 40 cubic feet or less per acre per annum for poor Scots
pine land. In afforesting hill grazings, whether at present

used for deer, sheep or common grazing, it is found that the
land varies from that suitable for the faster growing conifers
on the lower slopes to land on the upper slopes which will
produce 40 cubic feet per acre per annum. Taking a return
of only 60 cubic feet per annum as an average return on the
whole area and allowing 30 cubic feet of grown timber to the
ton, it is figured that about two tons per acre per annum will
result. Taking the gross value of timber at from six pence
to ten pence per cubic foot, the gross annual return works
out at something between £1.10s. and £2. 10s. per acre.

The figure generally accepted by the Commission for
employment in forest land is one man to every 100 acres
during the planting stage, one man to every 50 acres in the
productive stage, and one man to every 25 acres when forest
industries have been established round the forests.

Where necessary the Commission provides housing for
its foresters and forest labourers.

In respect to private and corporately owned woodlands,
which the Commission under the Act is also bound to assist,
the policy adopted and in effect is that of offering assistance
to landowners and corporate bodies, during the initial ten-
year period in reafforesting at least 50,000 acres of old wood-
land as well as in planting 60,000 acres of new lands, at an
estimated cost to the Forestry Fund of £327,000, of which
£137,000 is allotted to proceeds-sharing schemes between
private individuals or corporate bodies and the State, and the
remainder to the bestowal of grants and loans. The grants
contemplate paying £2 per acre as an inducement to private
owners to replant felled areas and to extend the area of their
operations.

For educational work, the Commission contemplates an
initial expenditure of £20,000 a year, it being expected that
educational institutions participating in the grant will provide
a similar amount on the pound for pound principle.

A personal visit paid to the Dean and Highmeadow
forests and to the Tintern Woods, situated in Gloucestershire
and Monmouthshire, and to other State forests, found them in
the hands of competent forest engineers who are making
splendid progress in their efforts to bring these woodlands
back into the highest degree of efficiency and economic return.

One of the most noticeable things about British cutting
methods is that cutting is done closer to the ground than is
practiced even in the Scandinavian forests where stumps
over five inches high are seldom found. In Britain the cutting
is made almost level with the ground. The explanation is
offered that wood-choppers are employed by the piece, their
compensation being based on the cubic contents of the
logs. There is, of course, practically no snow in these woods
to obstruct close cutting.

Practically no pulpwood is at present derived from the
British forests, nor is it probable that such wood can be grown
to commercial advantage in competition with Canada, New-
foundland, Scandinavia and Finland. At present the State
forests yield wood for building purposes, pit props, telegraph
poles and various industrial uses, and in some instances
return a profit on their operations despite the numerous diffi-
culties under which they temporarily labour.

ARTICLE No. VIII.

WHAT FRANCE IS DOING TO RESTORE THE

RAVAGES SUFFERED BY HER FORESTS

DURING THE WAR

PARIS, JULY 28. — Not the least of the post-war reconstruc-
tion problems confronting France is that of the restoration
of her productive forests. Before the war these forests com-
prised approximately 185,000,000 acres and although they
did not constitute the country self-supporting in forest pro-
ducts they went very far in that direction. The bulk of these
forests, about 177,000,000 acres, were in private hands,
3,000,000 acres were owned by the State and the balance by
the communes.

The war wrought great havoc with the French forests.
Those that did not succumb to the depredations of the enemy or
were not destroyed through being in proximity to the fire zone,
were heavily drawn upon for fire-wood, trench timber and
other war necessities, so that at the Armistice the Water and
Forest Board of France, which is the national body clothed
with authority over the forests and internal waterways,
found itself with a program literally "shot to pieces", a greatly
reduced staff and a depleted budget with which to begin

building anew. That the Board, backed by the government,
has taken up the problem with vigour and great energy is
typical of the French spirit which remains undiminished in
the face of the greatest difficulties. Nevertheless, the authori-
ties all admit that, given the most favourable developments,
it will take at least a century to bring France's forests back to
the state of 'productiveness in which they were prior to the
summer of 1914.

A survey made immediately after the Armistice showed
that in the territory occupied by the enemy, the forests had
been ruthlessly destroyed, irrespective alike of the German
army's actual requirements, and of the effect upon France's
economic future. The war zones spread over eleven forest-
bearing departments, including Aisne, Ardennes, Marne,
Meurthe, and Moselle, Meuse, Nord, Oise, Pas-de-Calais,
Somme, Vosges, and Belfort Territory. In these parts 300,000
acres of State forests, 322, 500 acres of parish forests and 922,000
acres of privately-owned forests were subjected to devastation,
in over one-third of this territory the productive capacity of
the forests was completely destroyed. Over half a million
acres must be refitted and rewooded to make it of any use.
Another area of 375,000 acres shows the effects of abusive,
premeditatively destructive, or wasteful fellings in which re-
serve plantings have been almost obliterated. It is calculated
that it will require from 60 to 100 years of intensive cultivation
to bring these forests back to normal. Their loss involves to
France an annual shortage of over 1,000,000 cubic meters of
wood.

France looks to Germany to assist in meeting her timber
necessities as well as to provide some of the funds needed for
rebuilding her forests. The Peace Treaty stipulated that Ger-
many should deliver to France all the timber necessary for
reconstructing the devastated regions, and this work is now
going on. It also obligated Germany to make further de-
liveries of timber on account of the indemnity due to France.
These deliveries have been hampered by the lack of adequate
transportation facilities, but, eventually, they are expected to
reduce the scarcity of timber in France until such time as
the forests can again become productive.

Meanwhile, the French people themselves are not losing
time nor sparing any effort to hasten the coming of that

period. The Water and Forest Board has been entrusted with
the supervision and direction of the work of reconstructing
the forests, and for that purpose has set up a special Forest
Reconstitution Service. In each department which suffered
from invasion there has also been established, independent
of the usual forest inspections, a special so-called "Forest
Reconstitution Inspection", each with a special staff with
definite duties all relating to the restoration of State, parish
and privately-owned forests as well as to re-wooding.

The work in the State forests is done entirely at public ex-
pense. In the case of the parish and private forests the French
parliament has set up a Fund, budgeted as "Forest Recon-
struction Works", upon which the parish and private owners
may draw for the means to re-establish their woods. These
funds enable the Forest Board to effect restoration works, in
agreement with the private owners, in the latter's forests, the
outlay eventually to be recouped, it is expected, out of the
indemnities received for war damages.

The work of reconstruction is well started, as a personal
visit to some of the war-devastated areas disclosed. The
first steps taken involve clearing the land of wire-entangle-
ments, filling trenches, dug-outs, and mine craters, opening
up roads and paths and making it possible as well as safe for
the forest rangers to go about their task. Recutting of the
underwood spoilt by shrapnel and shot or improperly worked
by the friendly or enemy troops is another preliminary step.
Reserves damaged by projectiles but which may still be
utilizable are being cleared up and restored.

Incidentally, a considerable amount of timber used for
defense works has been recovered and is being utilized for
new buildings.

Nurseries have been established by the Forest Service
nearby the places where new planting is going on. Many
sources, including Canada, are being drawn upon for the
necessary seed. Delivery of plants and seeds has also been
claimed from Germany as compensation in kind. Restocking
is being carried on in accordance with a plan carefully elabor-
ated by the Forest Board with special reference to the mutual
adaptability of the soil to the seeds and with regard to ensuring
a maximum yield of timber in a minimum period.

It is in the great State forest ranges of St. Gobain and
Coucy (Aisne) that the war has worked its greatest ravages
and where reconstruction work can be carried on most effectu-
ally, although the Board, so far as possible, is initiating the
new work simultaneously in every district affected.

Among the measures put into effect by the Forest Board
to assist in meeting the situation are those of permitting a
more liberal degree of cutting to supply immediate require-
ments which involves an abandonment of the policy of re-
serving certain stock of exceptional size for a future date; to
increase the number of young and medium trees whose annual
growth is important and to sacrifice the older barks of slow-
growing possibilities; the utilization of all non-permanent
resources; the reduction of, railway transportation rates on
timber in order to facilitate its movement; the greater utiliza-
tion of the home-grown resinous species which in the past
have been disregarded in favour of those of the Northern
European countries on account of their assumed inferior quali-
ty; the working of France's colonial forests, especially those
of French Western Africa, where, investigation has shown,
there are vast forest resources suitable for French require-
ments but which have formerly been ignored in preference
to imports from Scandinavia; bringing into accessibility the
State forests in the Pyrenees which have hitherto not been
economically exploited owing to lack of transportation facili-
ties and other causes.

Another measure, and one which the Board regards as of
importance, provides for State assistance in the management
and development of Communal woods and forests by a system
of money grants to the municipalities owning forests to enable
them to construct roads and other works for forest better-
ment, such grants to be repayable out of the net proceeds of
the timber sold.

Regarding the policy of private or State ownership of
forests, French authorities believe there is ample opportunity
for both systems but regard re-afforestation on an extensive
scale as essentially work for the State, holding it to be more
or less economically unsound for private capital to engage in
the work.

" Development plantations, creating reserve stocks in
foliacious forests," the Forest Board reports, "means sparing
continually trees when working the forest. Private owners,
under the necessity of obtaining income, cannot as a rule
afford to do this properly. Such work can only be successfully
carried on by the State or other perennial owner, such as
Departments, Municipalities, and public establishments. It
is therefore advisable to encourage the transfer to such public
ownership of woods and forests, the State acquiring prefera-
bly the poorest or most damaged whose reconstitution involves
long periods of time, and leaving to the corporations and pri-
vate owners those forests in a normal working condition.

There is a law in France, known as the "Audiffred Law,"
passed in 1913, which permits and provides for private forest
owners, who so desire, to entrust the State Forest Department,
with the entire management and administration of their
forest property. Few owners, it is said, have taken advantage
of the law, preferring to retain their own control, but in in-
stances where it has been applied it is said to be working
satisfactorily and the State is now engaged in propaganda
intended to impress upon private owners the benefits involved
in the system.

Speaking generally, the forest service of France has been
in existence since 1827. The Forest Board is clothed with
many powers, including the enforcement of all necessary
laws and regulations. Its organization is very complete and
comprises forest brigadiers, rangers, inspectors, keepers, etc.,
all of whom are specially qualified by practical training for
their work. The Board maintains a National Forestry College
at Nancy, where the higher officers receive their training, and
a professional forest training school at Barres (Loiret), where
the under-staff is educated. A research and experimental
Station, equipped with a wood-testing laboratory, forms part
of the college equipment at Nancy, and has branches in a num-
ber of districts.

French forestry lost heavily in personnel during the war,
but is being rapidly rebuilt, the authorities recognizing that
no department is more necessary to the present and future
national welfare than that of tree culture.

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